Gods and Ancients - 8. Kings and Lovers

The ten lions of the Council of Kings sat around the massive round table staring at their Emperor. The cheetah servants had finished filling their wine goblets and laying out a variety of fruit, olives, and bread for their masters to nibble on while discussing the business of Africa and had sealed the room.

“Your Highness,” King Tau began, always the first to prompt Emperor Kintu to get to the point of any Council gathering, “It is now a week past the expected date that the Heir of Odin and Lord of Bears was to undergo his first change. I assume that you have gathered us here to inform us of the results of your plan and boast of your success?”

“Yes,” Kintu replied boldly, staring at the center of the table, “And no.

“I know that my pawn in the NALC headquarters received our deadly gift, but I can only assume that he successfully delivered to its intended target and perished in the process due to the fact that following the morning of the Bear Lord’s first change, I no longer receive any communication from him demanding additional payment for his services.”

“So,” Tau prompted, “If we can assume that your instrument of treachery was killed in the blast, how do you not know if the Heir of Odin or any of his bear brethren were also eliminated?”

“King Tau,” Kintu replied, “I am going to overlook the fact that you just referred to my attempts at protecting our realm as ‘treachery’… for now.”

Tau bowed his head quickly in respect and then fixed his gaze downward at the uneaten plate of bread and dates sitting before him on the table.

“However, to answer your question, we do not know who was killed in the blast, because it seems that as of the afternoon in which our pre-emptive strike was to take place, the entire NALC headquarters has gone into complete lockdown. I may have resourceful spies in Calgary, but none of them have access to the NALC itself. It was only through the subversion of the spy utilized by the Benefactors that I was able to gain access to their headquarters complex at all. My sources have reported that since that day, no one has left the building. No Council, support staff, or visiting werebears. In fact, the only activity at all has been the arrival of just two additional persons, the General and Colonel of the NALC’s army. No other news has come in or out of that complex since.”

“So, what we can surmise, Emperor,” King Shombay interrupted, “from this limited intelligence, is that either the bombing was successful in not only eliminating the Heir of Odin, but most of the NALC leadership as well, and so their military leaders have had to be called upon to assume control.

“Or…” Shombay continued, “It was unsuccessful, and their military leaders were summoned to aid in planning a retaliatory strike against us!”

The assembled kings began a low grumbling of agitation before King Basel’s voice rose above the rest.

“Which of those scenarios do you feel is the most likely outcome, your Highness?”

Emperor Kintu took a sip of wine from his goblet before setting it back on the table and pushing it away with a sigh.

“Just before summoning all of you here again, I received another call from The Benefactors,” he said. “They reached out to the NALC in an attempt to gain information following our attack from the Supreme Alpha.”

“And…?” King Tau prompted impatiently, still casting his eyes downward.

“And…” Kintu replied, “They were told by the Supreme Alpha’s Beta wolf to… quote, ‘Go fuck themselves.’”

The room erupted in a roar of shouting as all ten Kings voiced their displeasure at the Emperor’s news simultaneously. Eventually, King Tau rose from his seat and raised his hands to quiet the group, and a tenuous calm was restored.

“Emperor”, Tau said returning to his seat once the room had fallen silent, “This obviously means that not only has the leadership of the NALC survived your strike, but they are also fully aware of the role that The Benefactors have played in the planning of it. I think we can only assume that the lockdown of their headquarters is a means to subvert any further attempts at espionage and that the arrival of their military leaders is the first step of planning a counterstrike… against us.”

“I have no choice but to agree, King Tau,” Emperor Kintu replied. “It is now that the Empire must come together and close ranks against a potential invasion from the West.”

“Aha!” King Muruthi shouted, “So we have come to the red meat of the reason why we have been summoned to the Palace so urgently! You intend for us to send all our warrior forces here to defend you now that you have gambled on a foolhardy plan and have lost!”

“King Muruthi! Remember to whom you are speaking!” Kintu shouted angrily, but the outraged lion was not yet finished.

“Well, let me be the first to say that I will not send any of my kingdom’s forces to lay down their lives for you, Emperor! If the bears and wolves do invade, my warriors will be needed in their own kingdom in the protection of their own homes!”

Emperor Kintu’s eyes flashed gold for a brief second before he leapt from his robes and transformed into his lion form in mid-air as he launched himself across the table at King Muruthi.

Muruthi was caught off-guard for only a moment as the Emperor’s jaws clamped onto his throat, and then his clothing was shredded as he too transformed into a mighty lion, prepared to fight.

The other Kings backed away from the table into positions around the perimeter of the room in shock as the two lions grappled and wrestled, fighting with fang and claw. There was a moment, briefly, when Muruthi’s lion successfully tossed Kintu across the room with a swift kick from his back legs, but the victory was short lived as Kintu returned with his claws bared, slashing the side of the defiant lion’s face, digging deep furrows in the fur and completely destroying his left eye.

King Muruthi roared in pain and quickly shifted back to his human form, futilely holding a hand against his ruined face and bloody eye socket.

Emperor Kintu’s lion leapt onto the round table where he quickly transformed back into this human form, towering above all, standing nude with the blood of Muruthi still dripping from his right hand.

“Do I need to remind anyone else in this room why I am Emperor?” he shouted, and the Kings pressed themselves tightly against the walls with heads bowed in deference.

“Be seated, cowards!” He shouted at them, and the nine uninjured kings scrambled to return to their seats as their Emperor still stood in the middle of the table glaring at them each in turn.

Kintu strode across the table back to his seat and leapt down, wiping the blood from his hand with a white linen napkin and pulling his robes back over his nude body once more.

Muruthi continued to roll on the floor, moaning and clutching his face in agony, so with a sigh, Kintu picked up a wooden mallet with a polished stone head from the table near his seat and used it to strike the stone gong suspended from the ceiling behind his seat.

At the sound of the gong, one of the doors in the side of the room opened, and several cheetah servants entered the room ready to do the Emperor’s bidding.

“King Muruthi has been injured in the course of our discussions,” Kintu told the cheetahs. “Take him to the infirmary for treatment.”

The cheetahs scrambled to the wounded lion in human form and six of them were able to lift his broken body and carry him from the room, re-sealing the door behind themselves as they did so.

“Now then,” Kintu said, before seating himself once again and taking another long drink from his wine goblet, “Before I was so rudely interrupted, I was explaining the need for the Empire to close ranks against this potential invasion from the West…

“However, I am a reasonable and benevolent ruler, and I understand your desire to defend your own individual kingdoms as well. Therefore, you will each only be required to send half of your warrior troops here to the Palace to defend the African Lycan Council Empire, and the other half may remain to defend your homes. Does anyone have an objection to this defense strategy?”

The nine kings all remained sitting, shaking their lowered heads to indicate that there would be no further objections.

“Excellent!” Emperor Kintu exclaimed. “We will face this threat as one unified nation, and by the will of Amun-Ra, we will defend our Empire and send any of those filthy and uncivilized bears and wolves who manage to survive limping back to the forests of North America where they belong!”

Kintu stood again and struck the gong twice, indicating that the meeting and discussions were at an end. The doors to the chamber were all opened once again, and the cheetah attendants moved to positions around the perimeter of the room waiting to serve the needs of any King who requested anything from them.

Tau stood from his seat to the right of Kintu and regarded his old friend cautiously.

“What will become of King Muruthi?” Tau asked quietly as the other Kings exited the chamber.

“He is a King no longer,” Kintu replied coldly, looking deep into Tau’s eyes. “The sovereignty of his kingdom is hereby forfeit, and its lands, wealth, and people are now the property of the Empire.”

“Your Majesty,” King Tau said carefully, averting his gaze downward to avoid the piercing stare of the Emperor, “The Council has always been composed of ten Kings of the ten Kingdoms… It has been so for millennia.”

“Then my friend,” Kintu replied putting his arm around Tau’s shoulder and beginning to lead him from the chamber, “It is time that we modernized, no?”

Tau lowered his head again as they walked, fearing the thought of a similar modernization of his own kingdom and people.

“Is there anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable?” Kintu said as they reached the doorway. “You seem very tense after today’s discussions; allow me to lend you my favorite cheetah slave who is so impressively skilled in the art of massage. I believe that you’ve had the benefit of his services on other occasions here at the Palace and have seemed to enjoy it.”

“You are very kind, your Highness,” Tau replied nervously at Kintu’s offer.

“Then it shall be so,” Kintu said as he left the King and strode confidently down the hall toward his own living chambers, “Go to your room my friend, and wait for Chikondi’s arrival.”

****

King Tau leaned back in his room’s massive bathtub, tiled in an intricate mosaic pattern that seemed to dance with the ripples of the water each time he moved. The water was hot, and his muscles were weary, having left his own kingdom early in the morning and travelling far, only to endure an extremely tense and uncomfortable Council session with the Emperor that left him fearing for his future and safety.

As if all of that wasn’t enough strain his emotions, the Emperor had insisted on sending Chikondi to his room to help him to relax. Did Kintu know his secret? It would be too perfect a coincidence if he did not…

At that moment, his thoughts were broken by a light rapping at the door to his suite of rooms. He sighed, knowing who was waiting in the hallway outside.

“Enter!” he exclaimed, loudly enough to be heard across the suite and through the door.

“Your highness?” a timid voice asked, and soon a slender male cheetah’s head appeared around the doorway of his bathing room. “The Emperor has instructed me to attend to your needs this evening with a relaxing massage.”

Tau gazed at the cheetah sternly, locking the smaller man’s eyes with his own.

“That is…” Chikondi stammered, stepping fully into the doorway and lowering his gaze downward, “If… if it pleases your Highness for me to do so.”

Tau sighed and rose from his bath. Chikondi quickly responded by snatching a towel from the table, wrapping the King’s body with it, and drying him.

“Chikondi,” Tau said, “Do you think the Emperor has grown wise to our… familiarity with one another?”

“No, my King,” the cheetah replied, continuing to rub the lion’s body up and down with the towel. “If he knew of our… familiarity… during your previous visits to the Palace, I greatly doubt that I would be allowed to continue to live to serve him.”

Tau sighed again and tossed the towel from around his shoulders to the floor. He strode without a backward glance across the suite and through the bedroom door where he laid face down on the bed, nude.

Chikondi picked up the towel, folding it neatly and laying it on the side of the mosaic bathtub before following the King to the bedroom and opening a small cupboard in the wall containing oils and lotions. He lit a small candle beneath a ceramic bowl and poured a sandalwood-scented oil into it so that it could be warmed by the candle’s flame. Before touching the King’s body, he removed his own clothing, dropping his tunic silently to the floor and stepping out of it, folding it quickly and placing it on a shelf within the cupboard.

He dipped his fingers in the warm oil and rubbed his hands together before pressing them into the taut muscles of the King’s back.

Chikondi straddled Tau’s back on his knees as he first worked his way up to the King’s shoulders and neck, finding knots in the muscle fibers and massaging them smooth before moving down to his lower back. The cheetah was keenly aware that his own cock was painfully hard as he continued to straddle the large muscular body of the King and his groin brushed repeatedly against the cleft of the lion’s ass as he rubbed dutifully at the tense muscles of his back.

Finally moving lower, he took time to gently knead each of the round ebony globes of his King’s posterior before moving down to the thighs, calves, and feet.

“Would your Highness like me to massage his… front… as well tonight?” he asked tentatively.

Tau rolled over on the bed and Chikondi was presented with a view of the lion’s hard cock, standing at attention like a thick flagpole. Tau nodded at the cheetah briefly before closing his eyes and leaning his head back once again.

Chikondi straddled the lion’s torso on his knees again, massaging the shoulders, arms, and chest. As he worked his way down the muscular body, he felt the lion’s thick, hard cock pressing into the cleft of his ass. He dipped his fingers into the bowl of warm oil and reached behind his back to grasp the King’s stiff member with both hands and coat it with oil until it was slick and slid easily in his grip.

Tau opened his eyes, and with a growl, grabbed the cheetah by the hips and lifted him onto his rigid tool until he was buried within the slave’s tight ass.

Chikondi cried out at the sudden invasion but gave no resistance. Tau held him firmly by the hips as he thrust upward into him, causing the cheetah to pant with desire and touch his own straining member for the first time.

Assured that the slave was not going to resist, Tau released his grip and linked his hands behind his head as he gazed up at the lithe young man bouncing and rolling his hips upon his cock. The first time he received a massage from Chikondi here at the Palace, he had forced himself upon the cheetah and held him down as he penetrated him roughly and filled him with his seed, but when he requested services from the slave a second time, he was surprised when Chikondi was the one who initiated sex between them, much like the way he had teased Tau with skilled hands before willingly riding him again tonight.

The young man was beautiful in his own way. Slender and lithe, but still very masculine. Tau could not simply close his eyes and pretend he was making love to a female slave, as Chikondi’s substantial manhood bounced against his chest and abdomen with each thrust of his hips. Yet somehow, this only increased the King’s pleasure and lust with the act, and he soon felt the telltale tingle in his loins that his climax was imminent.

He grabbed the cheetah’s hips once again and increased his rhythm, growling deep within his chest as he neared his release.

“Yes, my King,” Chikondi moaned, “Claim me as yours, fill me with your royal essence.”

Tau thrust upward one final time and let out a mighty roar as he ejaculated deep within the body of the cheetah slave. Panting and sweaty, he opened his eyes once again, and saw the face of the young man looking down at him with a smile.

“I trust that my King has enjoyed his massage and is now fully relaxed?”

Tau let out a rumbling chuckle and pulled the cheetah down into a kiss, rolling them both over onto their sides and pulling his softening member from his lover’s ass.

“I will never get tired of this King and slave-boy game of ours,” Tau said gently wiping the sweat away from Chikondi’s brow.

“One could argue that it isn’t really role-play,” Chikondi replied, “Since you really are a King, and I really am just a slave-boy.”

“You know you’re more than that to me,” Tau said, gazing into the cheetah’s eyes. “If the world was different, and I didn’t have to worry about keeping up appearances, I would have you by my side for all of eternity.”

“You could always ask the Emperor if you might purchase me…” Chikondi said tentatively, “Take me back to your own kingdom and your own palace.”

Even as he spoke the words the cheetah saw the pain clouding his lion’s eyes and face. This was a conversation that they’d had before, and he already knew the answer.

“If I was to take you for my own,” Tau replied, “You know that there is no way we could keep our love a secret forever. Just the idea of the King taking another male to his bed would be enough to for me to lose my throne, but a male lion taking a male cheetah as his mate would certainly mean death for us both.”

“I know, my love,” Chikondi said, “But I can still dream that someday I will be yours and you mine… forever.”

“Forever and ever,” Tau added and kissed the cheetah one more time before settling them both into a comfortable position where his lover could sleep in his warm embrace.

As they both drifted to sleep, neither noticed the pair of female eyes spying on them from a small sliding panel near the ceiling. The eyes seemed to smile deviously as they continued to watch the sleeping lovers for a few more minutes before the hidden panel slid silently shut.

****

35,000 feet above the west coast of Africa the C-17 Globemaster of the NALC sped undetected through the sky.

“General,” the Captain’s voice crackled over the intercom from the cockpit, “We’re now entering African airspace.”

“Roger that, Captain,” Apollo replied, thumbing the button next to the intercom speaker, “Keep your eyes open and glued to the radar. I don’t think we’re going to encounter any hostile aircraft at this altitude, but we have no intel on any potential surface-to-air missiles the ALC may have in their arsenals.”

“Affirmative, General,” the Captain replied, ending communication.

“Are we there yet?” Susie asked groggily, snuggled against Apollo’s chest in their shared bunk within the belly of the C-17.

“Almost,” Apollo replied, “Only half a continent left to go. We’ll be ready to land a few clicks from the ALC Palace grounds by morning.”

“Good,” Susie said, pulling the blanket over her head, “Now shut the fuck up so I can get my beauty sleep.”

“Yes, dear,” Apollo replied with a grin, lifting the blanket a bit to give her a kiss on the back of her head.

Several yards away, the bears slept together in a group. Large as the Globemaster is, there was still not enough room with all the troops, vehicles, and equipment for them to sleep in their bear forms in a comfortable pile, so they all dozed in the cramped wolf-sized bunks in their human forms.

Suddenly, Bernie’s eyes snapped open, and he sat upright in his small bunk, banging his head unceremoniously against the bunk above.

Bill was awake and had been keeping a silent watch over Bernie through the evening, and he responded to the sudden change in his friend’s mood immediately.

“Bern?” he asked anxiously, “What is it?”

“Are we in Africa?” Bernie asked with wide eyes.

“Yes, I’m pretty sure,” Bill replied, “I think I heard the Captain say over the intercom a few minutes ago that we had entered African airspace.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of,” Bernie said looking around wildly. “I don’t know how to describe it, but I’ve got a feeling.”

“What kind of feeling?” Bill asked.

“A bad feeling,” Bernie said. “A feeling that some… thing already knows that we’re here, and it’s… pissed.”

****

Deep within the sands of the Sahara, an eye opened.

Despite being asleep for so long and buried so far below the dunes, the eye could still see the world of its domain clearly, and there was a dark blot approaching far on the horizon.

Nostrils flared, and the being inhaled, stirring up whirlwinds and dust-devils that raged across the vast desert.

The blood of Odin. The being thought silently. The blood of Odin has trespassed upon my domain. There will be no mercy for the god of the Northmen this time. My vengeance will tear this feeble world apart.

At last.